I am having problems using Kuler on my Mac. I have CS5 master collection installed but Kuler just does not work. A colleague has the same suite installed and his Kuler works just fine! We have tried re-installing the suite but to no avail.

We have tried copying my installation on to his machine, as well as copying all preferences. But still it doesn't work!

We are completely stumped and require some assistance.

The machines does have internet access and I also have CS4 installed and Kuler works fine, it seems to be limited to CS5 and just on my machine.

Any ideas on how we can fix this?

Regards,

Rob

*MODERATOR COMMENT* The source of the problem seems to have been identified. See the post by employee Carey Burgess on February 2nd for details:

I don't use proxy. It used to work a few days ago when I used it for the last time. But it's not working now. It did not touch anything.

I uninstalled and installed again but no change.

The kuler.swf in "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\CS5ServiceManager\extensions\KulerPanelBundle" seems to connect since it shows a loading screen and then displays themes "sea wolf, root beer flot, etc." but it cannot be used as it is.

Wondering if your problem persists. Today, trying to access Kuler from InDesign CS5, I realized that nothing to do with accessing the "Adobe servers" would work in CS5, though continues to work fine in CS4 (I have both on the same PC, both at work and at home). This means that it has nothing to do with my firewall settings, etc.

I can find very little online. One dialog vaguely mentions problems with "serial verification", but that seems unlikely since, if there was a problem with the serial#, the programs would be announcing it loud and clear, rather than cryptically giving messages that the "Adobe Servers" can not be accessed.

Hi, i too are having simler problems with Kuler, both online at work on a pc running cs3 and at home on a mac running cs4 both online and using air. Its telling me that my loging details are wrong, so went to reset password and loged into adobe using same login details?? changed password same problem! Loged into acrobat same login details no problem and loged into photoshop.com no problems.

On all systems i was able to use kuler a few weeks ago and nothing has changed at my end and by the many responses there have been there is only one possible solution it is something that adobe has done.

Anyway if any of your have a color Monkey there is a nifty bit of softwear that comes with it which will do the same as kuler take any picture and turn it into a swatch which can be exported to any adobe program

If you can't access Kuler from within a CS5 application, then online service access may have been disabled on your computer.

NOTE: This might have been done intentionally by a system administrator or IT department, so if you are in a business or are otherwise using equipment owned/managed by a company, then you may need to ask them for permission before changing this.

I finally caved and did a complete reinstall of Creative Suite CS5. This after I spent three weeks with Adobe's support trying to get answers! They were no help at all! I used the uninstaller that comes with the software and afterwards I deleted everything on my Mac that I could find related to Adobe. Now it works! Kuler and all other services using the internet to connect via the software is working again. So it remains a big mystery on what actually went wrong to begin with but the reinstall did it for me. I also have a dozen other smaller bugs that are sorted out after the reinstall so I guess it was the best option for me. I hope this helps you guys too. I know first hand how frustrating this issue is and how Adobe is of no use in helping with this issue.

You see me disappointed and very frustrated. But thats nothing new when you work with Adobe Products.

Since July people are reporting issues with Kuler in CS5 and what happens? Nothing. It seems, that Adobe is still doing nothing. Not that i can't live without Kuler. But it took me 1 hr to check my internet connection and every possible preference in CS5 and search the web for solutions or explanations. In PS CS4, Kuler is still working. In every CS5 App not. So Adobe, could you please be so kind to fix this after 2 month? Or do i expect too much?

At present, I do not have any issues getting connected to Kuler via any Adobe CS5 application on Mac OS or Windows.

I did before, and it was because I had disabled Internet access to my Adobe applications. Just in case any of you had this same restriction, I posted the fix for this in my reply above.

Everyone, please check that you don't have online access disabled for CS5. In Windows, this is controlled by a registry entry; on Mac OS, it's controlled by a plist file. See this document for details:

After you have verified that the plist file doesn't exist or is set to a value of 1 on Mac OS, or the registry value is set to 1 on Windows, reboot your computer, and see what happens.

If it's still not working, then reply with the following details:

- What specific operating system you are using.

For Mac OS, include the exact version, like 10.5.8; you can get this by going to Apple > About This Mac.

For Windows, I mean XP, Vista, or Windows 7, any service packs, and also 32-bit or 64-bit. You can get these details by going into System in the Control Panel.

- How you connect to the Internet.

Wired or wireless?

Either way, are you at home, or at work/school (or otherwise connected to some kind of larger network)?

- Have you installed all updates for your CS5 applications?Open a CS5 application, go to Help > Updates (or Help > Check for updates), let it check for updates, if any are found, install them, if none are found then note that.

We'll get to the bottom of this; we just need to find out what about your computer/configuration that isn't allowing it to connect properly.

thanks for your reply! I don't understand why the plist file should change itself or set the value "just like this" to 0, but i checked this. The value is 1, like expected.

The Mac OS X Version is 10.6.4. on a 2.16 MHz Core 2 Duo iMac. All CS5 Apps i'm using (FW, PS, AI and ID) have the latest updates installed. I'm working at home with a DSL connection via Airport. I also disabled the build-in-firewall, with no success for the Kuler connection.

It's good to hear back from you. I just have a few additional questions to help narrow down the cause.

Are you able to sign into CS Live in your CS5 applications? (Go to Window > Extensions > Access CS Live. You'll either see an error, you'll see an option to sign in, or you'll see an option to sign out.) Let me know what you see there.

If you log into a different user account on Mac OS, does Kuler work as expected? If you don't have another account already created, please create a new one so you can test this. If you're not familiar with creating accounts, see this article:

These are both HTTPS (secure) addresses, so be sure to enter them that way.

The first one should load a blank white page. No errors or anything.

The second one may give a security warning (if so, you don't need to go any further on this one), or it will load a blank page.

Let me know what happens with these. If you get errors, take a note of what the error was.

Also, in the Finder go to /Library/Application Support/Adobe and look for the CS5ServiceManager folder. Get Info on it (CMD+'I' or contrl click > Get Info), and let me know what the Size is as well as how many items there are.

I deleted the 3 folders, run the installer and let Fireworks check for updates. It installed a few updates for all applications (Pixel Bender Toolkit, Adobe Media Encoder ...) and now all applications are up-to-date.

CS5 Service Manager now has 18 MB and 615 items.

Oh, btw. Kuler is still not connecting. I'll not try anything more, especially i'll not reinstall any CS5 app. Not for Kuler. I don't know why this issue exist. I know that i'm not the only one and that it's not related only to Mac's. And because i'm not forced to use Kuler, i'll let it like this. Maybe someday it's working again.

Many thanks to Carey who really wanna help and cares! Adobe needs more people like you ...

It seems, that Adobe has some build-in "Kuler Voodoo". I've a weird story:

I've done some work in PS and tried automatically the Kuler Panel. No connection. After that i go to the Preferences. My external HD was replaced and i want to add the HD again as a scratch disk. I've done this and saved the Prefs. And then i clicked again the Kuler Button. And it connected!!!!!!! Closing the Kuler Panel. Opening - no connection. Again prefs, go, lets say, to the plug-ins section, check the box for the additional plug-ins folder, uncheck, save. Klick the Kuler Panel- connection. Close the Kuler panel, reopen-no connection.

I've done this several times. Could someone explain what happens here??? Oh, in all other Apps Kuler is still not connecting. The "save the prefs" temporary solution is not working there.

thanks for your wishes. And you're right! It seems that a complete de-install and a new install is the only solution.

This week my new beloved 27" iMac arrived. I installed everything Adobe and run all updates and what should i say. Since two days i've permanent Kuler connection. ;-)

I don't know what the problem was. But i think that a not so complete deinstall of CS4 (maybe some prefs remains) could be the reason. Anyway. For me it was easy, because on a new machine everything has to be installed and no "pref garbage" is on the disk. But also for existing installations only the complete re-install brings the Kuler back.

I went to Preferences, Plug-Ins, clicked and unclicked the additional plug-ins folder then OKAY.

I tried another search in the Kuler panel and voila... it turned black, ran the circular animating status wheel, and came back with the results of my search.

This was on Snow Leopard Mac, CS5 Photoshop - I haven't tried any other app in the suite but I only use it in PS.

Strange workaround and obviously I hope something more permanent can be found but giving it that preference "kick" to reset it seemed to work.

EDIT TO ADD: I should note that this is as temporary as it gets for a workaround - as soon as you close the Kuler panel it's back to a connection failure and you have to repeat the above again. Same goes for restarting Photoshop in general. So, if you have a work session that can be a long one - leave the Kuler panel open the whole time.

Lastly, I'm not in a lab or office environment - my IT department is me and I haven't made any permissions changes for plug-in connections. I also can't imagine re-installing to get this working. It seems from other posts since CS4 this is an Adobe issue.

After a few weeks i can say: The same as before! Yesterday i tried the kuler panel in PS and: Yeah! No connection again!

I really don't know on which day it stopped working. After the new installation of all my software on the new iMac everything was fine. I was not installing any new software. I've just done a few updates for other apps over the time. I'm not sure, but i think it has something to do with other software. On my MacBook the kuler connection is fine. I compared all prefs between the two machines, i installed all Adobe updates, i checked the firewall settings ... Everything on the iMac is the same as on the MacBook. Except the different apps (on the iMac are far more apps installed.

I'm really angry. I'll not reinstall anything. I just wanna let you know, that a complete reinstall is (at least for me) not a solution. Maybe one day Adobe is able to tell, what the problem is and maybe there is a fix for that. Maybe ...

Any suggestions for backing up all my goodies before I try a re-install?

I've got quite a few custom patterns, gradients, shapes, brushes, etc. I'd hate to have to create them all from scratch. Is the export *.pat (for example) the best option for each of these things or is there a more global, one-step solution that's quicker?